An appreciation of his recordings[edit]

Mattia Battistini was esteemed as one of the greatest of singers and even a cursory acquaintance with
his many discs will make it clear why he was so celebrated by his contemporaries. Amongst the arsenal
of vocal weapons that he displays on record were the perfect blending of his registers coupled with the
sophisticated use of ornamentation, portamento and fil di voce, as well as an
array rubato and legato effects. His art was perfected before the advent of "passion-torn-to-
tatters" verismo opera in the 1890s, and together with the likes of Pol Planon and Mario Ancona (and,
to a lesser extent, Alessandro Bonci), he represented the twilight of the art of male bel canto singing on
disc.

Fortunately the sound of Battistini's clear, high-placed and open-throated baritone voice took well to the
primitive acoustic recording process with only his very lowest notes sounding pallid. He also handled
the trying conditions of the early sound 'studios', with their boxy confines and wall-mounted recording
funnel, much better than did many of his contemporaries, who often felt inhibited or intimidated by their
uninspiring surroundings. His singing was considered to be 'old-fashioned', even in the circa-1900 era.
Consequently, his discs provide a retrospective guide to Italian singing practice of the early-to-mid-19th
century (the era of Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini)as well as exemplifying the "grand
manner" style of vocalism for which much Romantic operatic music was written. Battistini delivers this
kind of music in a virile, bold and patrician way.

He is not averse, however, to showing off his voice by prolonging top notes or embellishing the written
score with a liberality that might surprise 21st-century listeners who are imbued with the modern notion
that a composer's work is sacrosanct. For some inexplicable reason he eschews on disc one of the key
vocal ornaments at the disposal of all thoroughly schooled 19th-century bel canto singers: the trill.

Perhaps Battistini's most historically illuminating recording is that of "Non mi ridestar", the Italian version
of "Pourquoi me reveiller", a tenor aria from Massenet's Werther. Massenet transposed the
protagonist's role downwards for baritone in a special version made especially for Battistini, harking
back to an age when composers tailored their musical parts to fit the talents of one singer, and a singer
of Battistini's stature could make almost any modifications seem acceptable. For those listeners
sampling Battistini's discography for the first time, his touchstone recorded performances include
versions of arias from Don Sebastiano, Macbeth, Don Carlos, Tannhuser and L'Africanaplus a
scintillating series of excerpts of Don Carlo's scenes from Ernani, arguably his greatest part, which he
committed to wax in 1906. For an evaluation of Battistini's technique, style and legacy on disc, see his
entry in Volume One of Michael Scott's survey The Record of Singing (published by Duckworth,
London, 1977, ISBN 978-0-7156-1030-5).